Saturday, May 30, 2009

Ack! Someone put a cat enabler in charge! My response to the story:This TNR plan is supposed to be humane, humane for who? Will it stop the unwanted pets from killing our fauna already pressured by habitat loss and pollution? Many ecologists and biologists estimate feral and roaming cats kill as many as a billion of our native birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fish each year. This makes the unwanted pets an environmental issue, not an animal welfare one. Finally, the birds and animals of this area are a multi-million dollar tourist attraction, not unwanted pets.

Friday, May 29, 2009

An article by a fledgling TNR advocate caught my interest recently when she remarked she’d had to maneuver to avoid a dozen or so cats lounging around a parking lot while attending a meeting. (Link above)She investigated and found there were piles of food and water around the area from people who fed them but none of the pets had been spayed and neutered. This inspired her to initiate a TNR project.While perhaps better than doing nothing for the cats in this case, I wonder if she ever considers how other visitors to the area view having to avoid the newly spayed-neutered cats again lounging around the parking lot or their excrement? Nowhere in the article was the impact of the feral pets on the fauna of the area mentioned, of course.

Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced more than $88,000 in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant funds will support neotropical migratory bird conservation in Illinois. Audubon-Chicago Region will receive $88,310 and partners will match with $265,170 to return publicly owned hayfields and degraded grasslands in surrounding Chicago to a diverse prairie habitat, greatly increasing numbers of neotropical migrant grassland birds.

“Chicago is a major migration stop-over point in the Midwest for neotropical migratory birds,” said Midwest Regional Director Tom Melius. “Birds are indicators of the health of our environment. Our partnership with Audubon-Chicago helps ensure that we are doing everything we can to address the conservation concerns affecting this important habitat for migrating birds in Illinois.”

The State of the Birds 2009, a report released earlier this year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state agencies and non-federal partners, revealed sobering declines of bird populations during the past 40 years. In the grasslands of the Midwest, conservation efforts are critical to protect grasslands that are essential for the birds in a landscape where little native prairie remains. This report calls attention to the collective efforts needed to protect nature's resources for the benefit of people and wildlife. (For the full report, visit http://www.stateofthebirds.org .)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

My answer:I have been predicting for several years the feral pet population outdoors would reach a saturation point so overwhelming the vast majority of voters would begin demanding they be controlled by all expedient means available.Expedient means, of course, would exclude the “compassionate, humane, and non-lethal” practice of TNR which only removes a tiny fraction of those pet species for an overnight stay at the Vets then re-abandons them for the rest of their claimed seven year life span.Most of our city and county governments have been influenced by a conspiracy of cat enablers to ignore our wildlife protection laws for the last twenty years or so, so this could be interesting.

The primary thing we must emphasize is the millions of unwanted feral and roaming pets outdoors is a critical environmental problem, not an animal welfare issue.There are tens of millions of the cats, perhaps as many as a hundred million, and most ecologists and biologists agree they murder as many as a billion of our birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish each year, many of them threatened or endangered.Our precious fauna is rapidly vanishing from habitat loss, pollution of our air and water, and the unnatural predation of cats. The unwanted pets are being abandoned at exponential rates, due to the bad economy and the proliferation and perpetuation of cat colonies by their enablers. This situation must be changed while some of the extinction may still be reversible.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Do you believe when you hear on the internet that feral cats are no or little threat to our birds and fauna? The very few ecologist, biologists, or veterinarians I've seen use that line are usually closely associated with or manage their own trap, neuter, return, and other cat organizations.I will refer you to "The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management" brought to us by Cornell University, Clemson University, University of Nebraska -Lincoln, and Utah State University. Please pay special attention where it is said:

Damage

* Kills young of songbirds, game-birds, rabbits and other wildlife; but rarely anything larger than ducks or pheasants. Scientists now list invasive species (including house cats) as the second most serious threat to bird populations around the world (Source: Connecticut Wildlife Mar/Apr 2007 p. 18). * Messy feeding behavior. Portions of their prey are often strewn over several square yards in open areas. The meaty portions of large birds are consumed entirely, leaving loose skin with feathers attached. Small birds are generally consumed and only the wings and scattered feathers remain. Cats usually leave tooth marks on every exposed bone of their prey. * Disease hazard- see below. * Use gardens as litter boxes.

San Diego County cat-lover accused of trying to poison neighbors' dogs.A man is in jail in San Diego after being arrested on suspicion of attempting to poison dogs owned by residents of the apartment building where he lives in Ramona, in northeastern San Diego County.

Gerald Parry, 46, had been warned by the building's management that he had too many cats in his apartment. In response, he left poisoned meatballs near the apartment building's dog run, according to the county Sheriff's Department. No dogs were harmed.

Parry had complained that he was being unfairly targeted for having cats while other tenants were allowed to keep large dogs, the department said in a statement Saturday.

Parry is being charged with cruelty to animals and leaving poison in a public place, and is being held in lieu of $50,500 bail.

(We are near reaching the saturation point, when we do the vacuum effect myth, nor any of the others lies will work!)

They’ve spent the last two years terrorizing neighbours with their loud fighting and blatant disregard for public property.They’ve destroyed countless pieces of lawn furniture, wrecked bird baths and spoiled a slew of garden beds.“You might see six or 10 of them together,” said Marcy Kennedy, a resident of the southeastern B.C. community of Creston. “They kind of have little colonies that they like to travel in.”Kennedy said the feral cat population is out of control in her Creston neighbourhood, with up to 200 felines prowling the streets.“They seemed like they were mating all the time,” said Kennedy, who added she regularly collects an ice-cream bucket worth of cat feces from her garden beds. “They’d howl and scratch. They wake you up at night, you bet.”

Friday, May 22, 2009

(Keep your pets indoors! Some people don't want them on their property and will resort to any means!)

Nine cats have been poisoned with antifreeze in a Pirimai, Napier, street.SPCA staff have been dealing with poisoning cases in Davidson Ave since last year and at least nine cats, including two kittens, have had to be euthanised.Alesha McKay has lost one cat and three kittens to poisoning since January.Two of the kittens, Chaos and Wicca, both 8 months old, were put down this week.She has one more cat, as well as a dog and young children, so she was worried about the situation."My young son's very angry at the fact that someone would do it on purpose," she said."We can't get any more cats if they're going to end up dead, it's just cruel."

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Non-lethal, humane, compassion, animal lovers... All terms the trap, neuter, spay managers use. What is compassionate, non-lethal, or humane about the billion of our fauna murdered each year by feral and roaming domestic pets? You who enable that murder are not animal lovers, you are cat lovers!

(This happens often. I don't condone the method used as being effective.)

A feral cat was discovered Wednesday afternoon in Salisbury, impaled through the chest with an arrow.Officials say the target arrow just missed her vital organs. She was found by a shed off of Nanticoke Road.They believe she had been injured for days based off of the maggot found in the wound. And based off of the wound, the officials believe the shot wasn't an accident."It was an intentional shot... (and) that someone would see a cat in a tree and think, 'Hey, there's a good target...' It's very frustrating for us, very infuriating. I'm hoping someone will come forward," said Linda Lugo, the Executive Director of the Wicomico County Humane Society.The cat will be staying at the Humane Society's surgery unit for at least ten days.They will be working to make her more tame, eventually making her available for adoption.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

My latest post in the blog? Feral cats are a domesticated species humans bred over thousands of years to rely on us and therefore have no more place in the wild than a colony of pit bulls or poodles. It is as inhumane to abandon domestic pets to become road kill as it is to artificially place an alien predator into our ecology. I submit the introduction of feral domestic pets into our ecology is an environmental rather than an animal welfare issue!

What does a Bird Advocate look like? Like everyone else we are short and tall, young and old, male and female, and from all geographical regions of the world. We have random life experiences and many similarities, with perhaps the largest being we share an intense appreciation and respect for the fauna nature has gifted us with.It is a whim of nature some of us may have a physical appearance resembling Santa Claus...

(What if this guy had shot a cat while defending a bird? Doh, he'd have gone to jail!)

A German Shepherd dog was taken to an animal hospital in Tiffin after being shot by a man who claims the dog wandered onto his property.According to Sandusky County Sheriff reports, deputies responded to the 6100 block of Sandusky County Road 11 just after 1 p.m. on a report of a dog being shot.

When the police arrived, they met with the dog's owner who said his neighbor was responsible. The dog had injuries to both front legs and was being bandaged up at the time, reports say.

(I knew this years ago. The ones who nested in our yard knew we tried to protect them from cats.)The birds are watching. They know who you are. And they will attack. Nope, not Hitchcock. It's science.

University of Florida biologists are reporting that mockingbirds recognize and remember people whom the birds perceive as threatening their nests. If the white-and-grey songbirds common in cities and towns throughout the Southeast spot their unwelcome guests, they screech, dive bomb and even sometimes graze the visitors' heads -- while ignoring other passers-by or nearby strangers.

"We tend to view all mockingbirds as equal, but the feeling is not mutual," said Doug Levey, a UF professor of biology. "Mockingbirds certainly do not view all humans as equal."

Monday, May 18, 2009

(SENSELESS MURDER! My response? This is not the “circle of life.“ This is the senseless circle of death caused by irresponsible pet owners who callously enable their pets to murder our fauna.)

The beagle blasts out the backdoor like hell’s own hound, howling in anger as a neighbor’s cat springs in a fuzzy blur out of the yard and over the fence.

It’s the usual lunchtime procedure: I let the dog out to chase the well-fed, healthy housecats that stalk the birdfeeder like Somali pirates hunting cruise ships, only this time the cat leaves behind more than just its evil intention.

A bird lies on the ground. Its orange beak opens and closes and its throat moves as if trying to chirp.

It makes no sound. It can’t. It can barely breathe for the punctures in its body and the mangling of its head, its right eye blind and feathery underbelly wet with cat saliva and fresh maul marks.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

I call the attachment some people feel towards cats the "cuddle factor". In mild to medium infections it is relatively benign to everyone, insuring their cats are loved, well fed, and healthy. There is nothing healthy psychologically, however, about acute infections of it.Those with acute infections of the cuddle factor are able to rationalize horrendous crimes against nature, abandoning or re-abandoning dozens or hundreds of vicious wild pets into an ecology they never belonged in! It blinds them to the atrocities they enable their "pets" to do. The cuddle factor makes them impervious to logic and common sense, such as wouldn't it be better to simply remove the unwanted pets from nature rather than abet and enable them to murder billions of our natural fauna that do belong here and are wanted? Devil's spawn or evil incarnate, yep.

This year, shelters are being hit with a one-two punch, as kitten season coincides with a bad economy. Shelters are reporting an increase in "owner surrenders" of pets because of lost jobs and mortgage foreclosures.

The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society took in 362 cats and kittens from April 1 to 24 this year. That's a 52 percent increase in the number taken in during all of April last year.-------------------------------Why am I not criticizing dog lovers and dog owners? Because they are, arguably, doing a much better job than the cat people.

Friday, May 15, 2009

"Get some perspective!" my wife advises (tells) me. She worries about the dwindling family fortune, the Mob of Yahoos in charge of the future, and about polar bears trapped on ice flows. She wants me to be worried about these things too, but my laser-like focus is on the 8,000,000 feral cats that crap in my flower beds at four in the morning. Who's got time to worry about going to the Poor House?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Brazos County Man has been bitten by a rabid feral cat. Now the man must go through a series a rabies shots. The Brazos County Sheriff's Office says feral cats are being trapped in the area of the initial exposure. Those cats will then be tested for rabies.

In a press release sent out Thursday afternoon, Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk stated the exposure took place in the North East side of Brazos County, near Reliance. Kirk says this should be a reminder for those in the city and in the county to make sure pets are vaccinated against rabies.

(DOH! This sounds like my neighbor!)About 15 residents appealed to the Manchester Township supervisors this week to help them with feral cats in the Out Door Country Club area - a problem seen around York County.

Gerald Anderson, who lives on Detwiler Drive, said feral cats have been multiplying in the area for up to four years. The cats have damaged his car, screen porch, water garden and garage. They are a health hazard with the feces and urine that permeates the area, he said.

Anderson said that, in the past two years, he and his neighbors have trapped 64 feral cats and taken them to the York County SPCA.

The cause of the problem is that one neighbor feeds the cats, which keeps them around, Anderson said.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

(How many of you keep a cat around to catch rats?)When you boil it down to the basic facts, cats are the common denominator where toxoplasma gondii infection is concerned. The parasite is the reason why pregnant women are cautioned not to clean cat litter boxes, because exposure to the parasite can cause toxoplasmosis. In infants this can cause serious neurological defects, organ damage, or even death. But for the moment we want to focus on the cat connection.

Cats are the main repository of the disease because the organism requires a cat to enter the reproductive phase of its lifecycle. It most certainly can and does infect other animals though. One of the most profound effects of the infection occurs in rats and mice. These creatures are fearful of cat urine because it marks the presence of a predator, and a healthy rat or mouse will try to hide when presented with cat urine. In studies done on rodents infected with toxoplasma gondii however, the rodents were not afraid of the smell of cat urine. In fact, they were even drawn to it, seeking out the scent and lingering by it, even though to do so meant certain death.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Saudi cosmetic surgeon on Monday successfully operated on a nine-month-old baby girl who had been abandoned in a street garbage bin where she was badly mauled and bitten by cats.Dr. Mamdoh Eshi, a cosmetic surgery consultant at Eid Clinic, accepted the case of the baby girl after both government and private hospitals had refused to take it on because it was extremely complicated.

Cats have a range of binocular vision greater than any other carnivores, which contributes to their remarkable hunting skill. This visual ability comes at a price, however. Cats, like humans, have only limited peripheral vision, which means that they have to roll their eyes or move their heads to view anything located on either side of them.

Predators rely on acute distance judgment and depth perception to time leaps and strike prey successfully. Their eyes face forward, offering a wide field of overlapping sight. In this area of binocular vision, depth perception and distance assessment are keenest. The eyes of prey, on the other hand, are generally placed on the sides of the head, offering them a wider range for detecting approaching predators but less depth perception.

Raccoons are predators. They normally have a fairly omnivorous diet. They hunt small mammals, crayfish, frogs, and just about anything else they can catch. However, sometimes raccoons get into trouble with humans when they hunt our pets. In the case below, a raccoon killed and ate 16 barn cats over a couple months. I got an email from the cats' owner asking what animal could be the culprit. The photos below tell the story.

My post? Nowhere among the accolades do I see it mentioned the Texas City Dike and Galveston County is world famous for being one of the major birding areas in North America. It is also the landfall for millions of exhausted birds in their spring migration from South America. The area is also visited yearly by hundreds of thousands of birders who add millions to the local economies. That said, nice picture of the feral pet loose in our ecology.

PET owners are being enlisted to help save one of Scotland's most iconic species, which faces the threat of extinction within a decade.The Scottish wildcat is now rarer than some tiger species, with estimates that there could be as few as 400 left.------------------------------------------------Dr David Hetherington, the first wildcat officer, will lead the project. He said the aim was to raise awareness of the plight of the animal while getting the public, gamekeepers, ecologists, vets and cat welfare groups to team up to save the species. One of the biggest threats to wildcats is mating with domestic and feral cats, creating fertile, hybrid offspring. Wildcats are rare but at least 100,000 feral cats live in the Highlands, it is thought.

THE three piping plover monitors picked their way carefully through the dune grass and broken shells on the northern edge of Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park, until the bell-like call of a bird halted them.-------------------------------------------Plovers are also unusual in that they do not feed their young. The chicks are mobile shortly after hatching and parents lead them down to the water’s edge to feed, making the chicks vulnerable to predators like foxes, seagulls and feral cats.

Monday, May 11, 2009

My post: Ask yourself a few questions. 1. Do parents take their children to parks to play in cat scat and urine?2. Are the parks created with our tax money for the cats recreation or for people?3. Do people attend parks to commune with nature or with abandoned pets? 4. Does trap, neuter, re-abandon end the problem of too many pets or perpetuate it?5. Does TNR end the subsidized predation of feral cats on our wildlife?6. Does TNR stop more pet abandonment or encourage it?7. It is inhumane and cruel to abandon a cat, how is it humane to re-abandon it after spaying? I could go on for hours like this.

The feral cat enablers will readily admit the domestic cat species have evolved so much over thousands of years of dependence on humans the homed ones will attempt to communicate what they want, yet they are in denial it is inhumane to re-abandon the feral ones.

I used this little critter as "bait" in my Havahart trap to catch its mother. I washed out a two liter soda container, cut it in half in the middle and cut slits up the sides. Cut air holes and leave the cap off. Insert kitty, place one end over the other and put your "bait" in the end of trap. It didn't take mom long to come looking. This one and the rest of the litter are now indoor-only cats! I would suspect if one were trapping a difficult cat a cheap live white mouse from the pet store would make an irresistible bait for either sex when used in such a way.

Among the comments to "Cat Fight" below were two excellent ones. One is from Michael Hutchins, Ph.D. Executive Director/CEO The Wildlife Society. The other from Tim Steinbeiser, whom it has been my pleasure to meet in e-mails. I'll quote Mr. Steinbeiser, as I have permission to do.

"TNR is not the answer to the feral and free roaming cat epidemic in this country. Cats are NOT wildlife and have no place outdoors. Cats are just another human artifact that contribute to the destruction of our natural resources. Trap and remove what you can and stop feeding the rest and they will go away. TNR is based on PERPETUAL colony maintenance, these colonies NEVER go away because they provide a perfect place for irresponsible pet owners to DUMP their cats. Keep pet cats indoors, enact mandatory spay/neuter laws and most importantly make TNR ILLEGAL as is nothing more than animal abuse disguised as compassion.Posted by: Tim Steinbeiser"

Citing poor sanitation at feeding areas as a public nuisance and federal law preserving protected wildlife from cats' claws, city officials say it's the best solution. The cats' caretakers, meanwhile, say rounding them up by the thousands and handing them over to the Flagler Humane Society could mean the felines are destined for euthanization if the society can't find somewhere to relocate them outside city limits.

(In his first paragraph the author, Tim Steinbeiser, shoots down another myth created by the TNR crowd!)

The letter "Use TNR to control cat populations" (March 30) demonstrates how pro-TNR (trap, neuter, release) advocates skew data to suit their own agenda. The writer states that "trap and remove" will not get every cat and that the cats you cannot catch will start the breeding cycle again. I must ask: If you cannot catch all of the cats for trap and remove, how, then, can you catch all of the cats for TNR?

The writer also states that Dr. Levy's study in Florida proves that cats in TNR colonies are as healthy as housecats. What Dr. Levy actually found is that cats in TNR colonies are as healthy as free-roaming cats, not indoor cats.

Ewing Township has chosen the only effective method to control the increasing number of feral cats: trap and remove. More resources and volunteers must be dedicated to this effort so that results can be realized and the suffering of outdoor cats eliminated.

Cats are an alien predator introduced by man. The number of cats is much more than the natural predator/prey ratio and the prey base cannot survive this imbalance. Native birds have not evolved with cats and have no natural defense against this predator. Yes, some will escape, but the young have little chance.

Cats are not "nature"; cats are just one more human cause of habitat destruction that must be removed from the environment to restore balance. We must use science, not emotions, to solve this man-made epidemic. TNR has no scientific basis, only anecdotal evidence, as a defense.

Several of the songbirds admitted this week were injured from cat attacks. A common yellowthroat was caught by a cat that then brought the bird into the house. The homeowner thought the bird was dead. However, the warbler wasn’t dead and managed to get loose in the bedroom. A pool service worker was able to help catch the bird and the homeowner transported it to the clinic for care. The bird did not survive the trauma of the cat attack and died within 24 hours of admission. Cats have a variety of bacteria that live in their mouths and their teeth are like hypodermic needles. A majority of cat attack victims we see at the clinic do not survive their injuries or the bacterial infection caused by the cat bites. If an animal is attacked by a cat, it is imperative that they are brought to the clinic as soon as possible so the animal can receive antibiotics. Everyone can help native wildlife populations by keeping their cats indoors or supervising them when they are let outside.

(My comment: Nowhere in this article was it mentioned the harm those cats do to our native wildlife when abandoned into the wild after neutering. Nor is it mentioned that it is immoral and unethical to do so, and unlawful to endanger the protected fauna they kill.)

Jill Huling of Wood County is an avid animal lover who has been feeding stray cats through the organization "Save A Kitty."

So every night for two years Huling feeds dozens feral cats and lately she has had more hungry mouths to feed.

"With the economy people can't take care of themselves let alone their animals so instead of taking care of their animals they are dropping them off and they are ending up in our colonies,"said Huling.

Huling's colony has 32 cats and she said that there are over 20 feeding stations for stray cats all over Wood County.

The role of feral cats in decimating the Centre's wildlife has long been well understood: the bodies of dead wildcats, almost panther-like in their size, are often encountered in desert rangelands. But their presence in the far north is more a question of surmise. They are there, doubtless, deep in the stringy-bark forests and ravine systems, under cover, prowling, but only rarely are they seen or caught. When they are removed from the equation, though, mammal numbers recover fast. And if you can't remove the cats, remove the prey.

Five years ago 64 quolls, gravely endangered victims of the cane toad plague, were rounded up from the Top End. They were moved to two cat-free offshore islands; by last year there were more 5000 of them, in greater densities than in their old environment, perhaps a sign that even before the cane toads came, cats had already swept through and begun to kill them off.

Other similar results have done much to highlight the central role played by cats in the collapse of the mammal population.

"Lake Jackson Birders Drop the Ball.I live near lake jackson texas(L.J.) It is legal to by exemption to the law for cats to roam at will. L.J. is home to the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory & multiple refuges in the area. In addition, nature and wildlife comes right up to town. I have been trying to get the Brazosport Birders to help me encourage(force) the L.J. city council to make Lake Jackson a more bird friendly town to no avail. This can be done by creating bird friendly laws and policies."

The head of Santa Cruz County's animal control agency testified before a state Senate panel last week in favor of a measure that would strengthen the state's spay and neuter law.

Henry Brzezinski, general manager of the Animal Services Authority, told lawmakers that Senate Bill 250 would help California control its overpopulation of cats and dogs just as the county's spay-and-neuter ordinance has done here. Brzezinski said the county shelter has cut euthanasia of dogs and cats more than 70 percent since the local law requiring owners to buy certificates for unaltered cats and dogs was passed in 1994.

"Shelters across California and the nation are just overwhelmed by cats because they are such prolific breeders," Brzezinski said in an interview after his testimony before the Local Government Committee, which passed the measure. "We already have something in place. This bill will take it a step further."

The bill, which now moves on to the Senate Appropriations Committee, seeks to reduce the death rate among the 1 million-plus cats and dogs kept in shelters statewide each year. Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who is sponsoring the bill, says about half of those animals are euthanized, costing taxpayers $250 million.

Can you quote me? Sure you can. You don't even have to attribute anything to me, except perhaps my rare original poetry or fiction. I know there are arguments about TNR and roaming cats all over the internet(s) and should you see one of mine you'd like to adopt, feel free. We're all in this together.

I have seen this plan proposed a number of times, and thus far I find it moral, ethical, humane, and ecologically sound, so long as the output from the sewer is considered and eradicates any harmful bacteria or parasites. It is the antithesis of TNR, which I feel selfishly abandons and inflicts hundreds of thousands of domestic pet predators on our already fragile natural fauna in the name of "compassion!"

I've posted a couple of polls looking for reader input. It might be enlightening to know the demographics of our readers, whether we're preaching to the choir or to the trap, neuter, return crowd. Anyone's suggestions for polls will be considered.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

I suppose you already know where my priorities are. It's good to see at least some folks who agree with me visit here! The purpose of this blog is to make it clear to everyone, or at least the majority of voters. :-)

Abstract: Many jurisdictions have adopted programs to manage feral cats by trap–neuter–return (TNR), in which cats are trapped and sterilized, then returned to the environment to be fed and cared for by volunteer caretakers. Most conservation biologists probably do not realize the extent and growth of this practice and that the goal of some leading TNR advocates is that cats ultimately be recognized and treated as "protected wildlife." We compared the arguments put forth in support of TNR by many feral cat advocates with the scientific literature. Advocates promoting TNR often claim that feral cats harm wildlife only on islands and not on continents; fill a natural or realized niche; do not contribute to the decline of native species; and are insignificant vectors or reservoirs of disease. Advocates also frequently make claims about the effectiveness of TNR, including claims that colonies of feral cats are eventually eliminated by TNR and that managed colonies resist invasion by other cats. The scientific literature contradicts each of these claims. TNR of feral cats is primarily viewed and regulated as an animal welfare issue, but it should be seen as an environmental issue, and decisions to implement it should receive formal environmental assessment. Conservation scientists have a role to play by conducting additional research on the effects of feral cats on wildlife and by communicating sound scientific information about this problem to policy makers.

Although the iguanas are the largest native vertebrate still alive today on the islands, when they're babies, their small size—maybe six to eight inches long—makes them vulnerable to introduced predators on the islands like cats, dogs, and mongooses. "You can go to certain islands in the Caribbean a month after the breeding season takes place, and you won’t be able to find a baby iguana; they're just all gone," Alberts laments. ______________________________________________In the case of the 'Alala of Hawaii, the solution was more immediate and more drastic. These birds were part of a reintroduction program on the islands. A big problem for Hawaiian forest birds is becoming infected with malaria or pox viruses, thanks to mosquitos, which had been introduced to the islands in the 1880s. Many of the forest birds live at higher elevations, above the mosquito line, but not the crows. They were found to be able to survive pox and malaria infections, but the populations were still dying.

The team outfitted the birds with radio transmitters that came equipped with a mortality signal so that they could do post-mortem exams, which revealed that the birds had toxoplasmosis from Toxoplasma gondii. The disease vector was found to be feral cats—the crows would forage in the cats' feces, even treating the feces as a food item.

The solution here was to bring all the birds back into the captive breeding centers in order to beef up their numbers, and the plan is to reintroduce them to the wild once scientists can figure out a way to do so safely, without the birds being exposed to toxoplasmosis.

(This is the sort of problem I have on my property, with predation on wildlife added.)

Cats roaming the neighborhood, urinating and dropping feces on private property have become a nuisance for some Scenic Height’s residents.

Tracy LeClair and Lisa Binsley approached the town board April 13 to ask for an ordinance making it illegal to let cats roam at large.

“There are an exorbitant number of cats in our neighborhood,” LeClair said. “My yard is covered in cat feces and urine. They urinate on my front porch and under my deck. When I step out my door the only thing I can smell is cat urine.”

LeClair said at least seven cats are seen daily in and around the neighborhood. Some are feral but four or five belong to one neighbor. She said the owners have the cats out all day and night and only let them in the house to feed them and let them back out again.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Some residents' nearly three-year ordeal with an apparent cat-infested residence next door was enough Tuesday night to convince aldermen to recommend in favor of changes to the city's pet ordinance.'______________________________________By the time her mother had come to visit the following June, the number had grown to 15 or 16, she said._________________________________By May, the smell "really began to stink," Lathrop said. "You know how spring days in Illinois are wonderful and you open the windows to get fresh air and it smells like cat pee. I would light candles to try to mask the odor of the cat urine and it just wouldn't help, so I would just close my windows."

Get the domestic pets out of our ecology! It is inhumane to allow them to roam around homeless and suffering as they kill our native fauna. Would you allow colonies of feral poodles to remain in the wild? Cats are their feline equivalent.

That was the opinion of an expert on Suite 101. I answered:Excuse me? Perhaps you haven't heard feral cats are one of the factors threatening some of our native mouse species with extinction. Beach Mice

Another comment I made to the expert: Perhaps you could explain how it is humane to abandon or re-abandon pet animals into the wild to roam homeless murdering our wild life when they have been bred for 5000 years to be dependent on humans?

More: Yes, I have too much respect for nature to think it's anything but abhorrent, inhumane, and irresponsible we have thousands of colonies of a domestic animal in the wild being maintained, subsidized, and enabled to predate on our natural fauna by well meaning but mis-informed people. This subsidized predation, of course, allows the feral pets an unnatural advantage over our own predators and contributes to the devastation caused by habitat loss and pollution.

I just read an account from a feral cat TNR manager in your area describing themselves as having to divert around a dozen feral cats, some directly in the way of traffic while going to a meeting. We've recently quoted Dr. Julie Levy, manager of Operation Catnip as saying she found the cats lived an average of 7 years after being spayed and brought back to their territory.If these TNR practicers themselves are to be believed, it appears to me you will be hip deep in cats, if you aren't already. Meanwhile, the pets continue to die under the wheels of cars and kill our birds and other fauna. I say get the pets out of traffic and out of the wild!

Action is being taken over the growing problem of feral cats in downtown Enderby._______________________________________“The feral cats treat these flower beds as their personal bathroom,” said Lynne Borhaven, the city’s grounds maintenance contractor, in a letter to council.“This is not only unsightly and odorous, but it is adversely affecting the city’s investment in its public gardens as it will require frequent replacement of the plants and flowers.”Borhaven is also concerned the cats and the disrupted gardens reflect poorly on the community.“The city gardens are prominently located on a key traffic route which is frequented by tourists,” she said.But the problem doesn’t appear to stop there.“People are putting food out for the cats and that may attract rodents like rats,” said Wejr.The city is also considering informing residents of the problems related to feeding feral cats.

The New York City Health Department is warning its residents that two young people have been stricken with ringworm and now have very serious health problems. An infant has permanent brain damage and a teenager has lost sight in one eye after contracting the parasite from raccoon feces.Veterinarians here in Central New York say people here should be aware that something similar could happen in our area, mainly because of feral cats.______________________________________Dr. Chmielwicz says feral cats, like raccoons are very likely to have parasites in them, including roundworm. He say people here should watch for cat feces in their yards, "one town in particular, Clayville, has quite a large stray and feral cat population and with these cats depositing their feces around people's homes, they like soft dirt, soil, sand, these are areas people are gardening, working in their flower beds, children are playing outside, so he potential is really there."

A mobile home was full of so many cats neighbors couldn't stand the smell and it's now being called a biohazard.

"This without a doubt is a biohazard site. When you have that much feces and that much urine permeating everything, you can't really clean that up," said Pete Dinelli._____________________________If you suspect a neighbor is hoarding animals you are asked to report it to the city immediately.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Do you go to our parks to enjoy the feral cats? Do you go to the beach or lake to feed the fur babies? Are the roaming cats defecating in your flower beds your favorite "wildlife?" If so, you can disregard this post because this is a call to action to everyone who believes domestic pets should not be roaming uncontrolled in our ecology and murdering our native wildlife! Now that I've cleared the feral cat enablers out of the way I'd like to talk seriously for a moment. Yes, to you, the people who care that a domestic pet is being shown favoritism over our natural fauna to the point of being enabled to prey on them and compete with our own predators. It is going to take activism and organization to make this right. Those other people are organized already and they send thousands of emotional e-mails to anyone who dares raise a flyswatter to a fur baby.You know taking these pets out of our ecology will require responsible adult action and I do mean take them out! So what can you do? You're as smart as I am, figure out something. I have near 500 posts here supporting my argument and appealing to you, we are in the right so that does give us an edge. We do have to frame this correctly, instead of hating on the pets we stress the undeniable inhumanity of abandoning pets onto our streets, the terrible loss of our fauna, and the rudeness and health issues of their intrusion on our private property. Write Congress and tell them, then tell your mayor and city council to enforce and strengthen our laws preventing pet abandonment and protecting our wildlife! Links to this blog are appreciated and reciprocated, too.Here are your contacts for the United States House of Representativesand United States Senate. Please write them.

Monday, May 4, 2009

TNR managers believe that all animals deserve compassion and protection? Then why do they re-abandon domestic pets dependent on humans into the wild and enable them to each murder tens, dozens, or hundreds of our native fauna yearly? Do these actions of theirs seem humane, ethical, moral, or logical to you? Their actions are not those of animal lovers, but cat lovers. How they can rationalize this I'll never understand. The Audubon Society can't say this, but I can and do. Your opinion is invited.

I was thinking of perhaps ordering some silk screened shirts with our blog logo. I think they would be quite striking. I'll be looking into them later today. Remember you heard it here first, folks. Give the idea a week to work and you will see Blog logos in all the birding bogs!I've decided I'll order some of these shirts and wear them locally. They may work up some interest in this blog and in our cause.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

How feral cats affect wildlife is made irrelevant when one considers it is inhumane to subject any domestic animal to abandonment in the great outdoors. It should be evident to everyone 5000 years of a symbiotic relationship has evolved them so much they are now a species dependent on us. So much so the biologists say they threaten the very survival of their parent stock through inbreeding.I would no more loose a cat into the wild to survive than a poodle or pit bull, their canine (wolf) equivalent. Should one wish to argue abandoning a domestic pet into the wild is not morally, ethically, and humanely abhorrent I would then ask how they could dare inflict an alien predator onto our native wildlife?

Another failed TNR effort. The town is giving another TNR group a try. My comment? "Why are so many domestic pets abandoned there, isn't that inhumane? How many of our fauna do they kill and why wasn't this mentioned? Is it even taken into consideration? Why do the standard efforts to euthanize these unwanted domestic pets fail? Could it be because they have organized groups of TNR enablers breathing down their necks and subsidizing the cats existence?"

Another comment I made in reply to the TNR spokeswoman.

TNR costs us millions of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish each year, a wealth we cannot afford to lose.I'll quote one of your TNR experts here. This quote is from National Geographic.'In a study conducted by Levy over an 11-year period, she found the cats lived an average of 7 years after being spayed and brought back to their territory." It's become a double-edged sword, because we're happy for the cats that they're living life and in good health," Levy said. " But it also means that we can't expect our neuter programs to work really quickly."'

More: I am an average concerned citizen and animal lover. The way I would rate priorities in this issue in order of importance is this.Stop the slaughter of our dwindling native wildlife which is being disemboweled and eaten by the billions as quickly and painlessly as possible. Secondly, end the suffering of those pets under cars, and in the jaws of dogs. It is inhumane to abandon a pet animal into the wild, be they poodle or cat.Thirdly,rid our properties of domestic pets and alleviate the health issues associated with them. So you see, your TNR is counter-productive to the concerns of many of us if you wish to re-abandon pets into the wild. I personally believe as many ecologists and biologists do, it perpetuates the problem. As Dr. Julie Levy of Operation Catnip said "we can't expect our neuter programs to work really quickly."

Even more: My plan would be a strict euthanasia policy for all untamed pets in the wild and registration of family pets supported by citizens interested in the welfare of all animals and wildlife, not just cats! This means getting the pets out of the wild where they do not belong and are destroying our ecology! This would also have to include our politicians being told to do the responsible, realistic, and adult thing, as a former TNR supporter, Dr. Christine Storts, told the Florida wildlife commission several years ago. Do I have to quote her to you?Your supporters may love their cats like their children, but do they abandon their children to run loose in the streets getting run over and killing animals? Do they allow their children to invade their neighbor's property? No, because that would be inhumane, unethical, and irresponsible, wouldn't it?Finally, the bird droppings on our cars are a part of nature. The cat scat and urine in my garden and around my yard are there because of irresponsible people not controlling their pets!

(98,000 cats in the county? How many of our fauna do they kill? Why do the efforts to euthanize these unwanted domestic pets fail? Could it be because they have hundreds of thousands of TNR enablers breathing down their necks and subsidizing the cats existence?)

The Lee County Board of County Commissioners approved a new Animal Control Ordinance in March and one of the most significant changes in the ordinance that will affect pet overpopulation is the approval for feral or stray cats to be trapped, sterilized and returned to the community from which they were found.

With the new ordinance now in effect Lee County Animal Services is partnering with PAWS Lee County, a new low-cost veterinary clinic in N. Fort Myers, to officially begin a formal TNR program. The new program provides sterilization, vaccination and microchipping of feral community cats to reduce unwanted litters.

The two agencies are asking the community to support this program by sterilizing feral community cats they may be feeding or for which they are providing care. Some private veterinary clinics are also providing TNR programs. Residents are encouraged to contact their own veterinarians for information about possible TNR programs they may offer.

Prior methods to reduce the population of feral cats have been unsuccessful. Approximately 98,000 feral or community cats currently reside in Lee County according to Dr. Julie Levy of the University of Florida's Shelter Medicine Program. Dr. Levy is also the founder of two feral cat spay/neuter programs that have sterilized more than 40,000 cats. She recently presented a public forum in Fort Myers to discuss the pros and cons of TNR and how to operate an effective program to reduce the stray cat population and end needless euthanasia.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Efforts are being made, of course, to protect songbird species. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has “gone green” with its protection of songbird habitat along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Mississippi and Alabama. In several areas, projects have been mounted to reduce invasive species (most often introduced by humans) that cull songbird populations, from feral cats to cowbirds. And individuals across the continent have been planting “stopover gardens” to provide small bits of habitat diverse enough in forest and meadowland plants to host at least some of the migrants.

Naval Station Mayport, Fla., about 15 miles east of downtown Jacksonville, recently shut down a three-year-old trap-neuter-release program. Officials there claimed TNR didn't work.

"The cat population on base outpaced our manning and funding to do the program," Lt. Cmdr. Kelly Merrell told the Florida Times-Union in June. Mayport's policy since May 17 has been to trap the cats and hold them 10 days to allow people to claim lost pets or to adopt. After that, what remains goes to Jacksonville Animal Care and Control or the Jacksonville Humane Society.

At present, Mayport officials said, about 150 neutered and spayed cats remain free. They must fend for themselves, though, because the May 17 policy prohibits feeding cats.

Beach mice, as their name indicates, live on beaches in Florida and Alabama. Beach mice live in the dunes that are located just above the high-tide line (Figure 1). A variety of animals live with beach mice in these dune habitats, including the six-lined racer, monarch butterflies, snowy plovers, and coachwhip snakes. Beach mice occur only in dune habitats. Because they live only in this habitat, they are at high risk of extinction if their habitat is destroyed. Most beach mice are listed as threatened or endangered.

The main threats to beach mice are humans and coastal development. Coastal development -- construction of homes and condominiums -- has caused the destruction of dune habitats. In addition, domestic cats can affect beach mice populations. In the long run, understanding beach mice and current conservation efforts will help the future survival of this species.

Is the campus a feral cat colony or an institution for education? There are tens of millions of feral domestic cats being abandoned to intrude on our ecology as it is and perhaps a few disappearing will allow some of our natural fauna to live. Domestic pets belong indoors, not out hunting our wildlife.

Are Feral Cats an Invasive Species? I'll put it this way, the ones who wiped out the birds in my neighborhood certainly are. My mockingbird and bluebird nesting pairs were reduced to a few feathers. My rock doves who regularly visited my back yard for years haven't been seen in about ten years. Invasive Species? I won't take this without fighting them, will you?